Chapter 93 - To easy to be true

An aromatic smell of coffee floated in the air. Lionelle first tossed one snow white cube of sugar into the black pulp, then a second, before finally deciding on a third cube. In the background a soft melody was humming. Lily pulled the blanket tighter around Adrien's little body. The toddler had curled up in her lap and was silently slumbering while his hands were tangled in her hair.

"Good evening, ladies. I'm sorry for the slight delay. I had some papers to prepare. So that you may receive your safe deposit box." Announced a deep voice with perfect English. Lily turned her head to the side, so she could recognize the face to the voice. An older man in a blue pinstriped suit headed toward her. His dark hair was already greying. Deep lines of laughter lay around his hazel eyes. His smile was friendly as he stepped to the table and let a laptop and a grey folder sink onto the table.

"My name is Leonard Zoeller. Thank you for your patience. I hope you had a comfortable journey, Mrs. de Valois?"

Obviously he knew exactly who she was. Unfazed, he had recognized her as Lillien de Valois. Lily nodded and took the hand he extended towards her. "Thank you for agreeing to see us at this late hour. We had a very pleasant journey. Thank you for asking."

He smiled at her grandpa-lovingly. "Miss de Carvoisin, I am also honored to welcome you to my humble bank."

"The honor is all mine."

"Well, let's get started." Mr. Zoeller pulled out one of the remaining chairs and sat across from them before taking a pair of glasses out of his breast pocket and placing the black frame of the glasses on his nose. He opened the folder.

"I must now ask you to show me your certificate of inheritance and identity card." The man explained in a businesslike tone.

Lily asked Nelli to get the papers from her bag. Since she couldn't bend over because Addy was in her arms. It was rustling in her bag as the girl pulled the documents out of it and placed them on the table. Afterwards she handed Lily her purse, out of which the girl fetched her identity card and handed it over to the branch manager. His eyes casually swept over the writing on the first page as his fingers browsed over the pages.

"Thank you." He passed her the ID card while he removed the first page of the folder.

"It's standard procedure. Please sign here." With his metal pen he pointed to a line at the end of the paper and handed her another pen.

Lily looked skeptically at the script. "What is this?"

"An acknowledgment of receipt." The banker smiled slightly.

Nodding, Lily then sat her name under the paper.

" Please be patient for a moment." He asked them. "I will now bring you the appropriate safe deposit box."

It took a moment before she could really realize what was happening. A feeling of excitement stuck to her tongue. But not a word passed her lips. So the girls could only look silently into each other's eyes as minutes passed, and they waited.

Suddenly, Nelli's phone rang. A very special ringing tone. The girls knew immediately who was asking for a statement.